Solar flares may throw positioning off by 10 meters in the UK incoming years

Over
the next couple of years, the sun will reach its period of maximum
activity and solar flares will be at their highest point in years.
The last time there was a high period of solar activity, there were
few people that relied on things like GPS in their daily lives. Today
GPS is a very common technology that millions rely on each day for
getting around all over the world. The military also relies on GPS
for combat operations.

The coming period of high solar
activity and solar flares has some scientists worried that GPS
signals will be interfered with in a way that could cause
minor issues for some users. The researchers point out that the
military uses a much more complex GPS system than consumers have
access to and military use of GPS should not be affected.

BBC
News reports that what is likely to happen when solar
activity reaches its peak is that the low-power GPS signals the
navigation device in a car relies on for positioning information
won't be able to pick the GPS signal from orbiting satellites due to
radiation from solar flares. Ultimately, GPS receivers in consumer
devices may be blinded for tens of minutes a few times a year when
the sun is at maximum activity.

Throwing another issue into
the mix for GPS receivers is that the ionosphere changes in
composition depending on the amount of solar radiation hitting it and
can lengthen the time it takes GPS signals to make it to the ground
adding more of a chance of errors for GPS devices.

Professor
Cathryn Mitchell from the University of Bath said, "We can look
at the measurements from the last solar maximum. If we project those
forward, it varies quite a lot across the Earth; looking at the UK it
will be about 10-meter errors in the positioning."

Scientists
at Cornell University warned about the potential
for adverse effects on GPS systems caused by solar flares in
2006. They warned that the effects could have big problems for
emergency services that rely on GPS.

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That is why I use dual-mode on my GPS, it uses the standard GPS signals as well as signals from ground based stations (WAAS/EGNOS, WAAS = North America, EGNOS = Europe).

100 meters: Accuracy of the original GPS system, which was subject to accuracy degradation under the government-imposed Selective Availability (SA) program.

15 meters: Typical GPS position accuracy without SA.

3-5 meters: Typical differential GPS (DGPS) position accuracy.

< 3 meters: Typical WAAS position accuracy.

In typical GPS mode, I can be on a parallel small side road about 20-30 feet off the main road and the unit displays me on the main road... whereas in WAAS mode, it actually shows me on the side road and determines my route based on that information, which means much better accuracy.

This is also a piece of information they leave out of these stories... more scare tactics .